Tricked
by A1t0Aria
Summary: An amnesiac Makoto tries to help her sister Sae by seeking justice against Kaneshiro, but ends up getting in a fix when he gets blackmail material of her. When she seeks the help of a con artist named of Akira Kurusu, she starts falling down a very dangerous path and begins to delve into the truth about her past… (Discontinued)
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I do not own Persona 5!_

 ** _The information below is important, so please read it:_**

 _This fan fiction was inspired by Gameplan (千方百计), a show back in my country. However, majority of the events would still be inspired from Persona 5. On the other hand, the plot itself probably wouldn't follow Persona 5._ _All the Phantom Thieves are around their mid-20s for the sake of the plot. Certain characters have a change in their appearance and personality too such that they can suit the plot better (so beware of OOC). At the same time, not all of the Phantom Thieves are on the good side anymore. Some of them have been shifted to be a part of the Conspiracy team, while others have been moved to be a part of the Police Force. Morgana is also a human in this AU._

 _Please do note that I can't update the chapter often as I'm also busy with another fan fiction called 'Persona 5: Behind the Scenes', which is the main fan fiction that I'm working on. Some of you may have read it before too. Do check that one out if you want something more light-hearted!_

 _Most importantly, please take this story as an entirely different story and universe altogether._

 _With that, enjoy the story!_

* * *

With her lungs aching for air and her throat parched and begging for water, Makoto Niijima took off as fast as her legs could bring her through the white misty world, her bobbed brown hair flying behind her. Turning back, she saw the shadowy figure still chasing after her before she continued to run.

Suddenly, the red-eyed girl felt a half-wall barricade her way. Shocked, she was unable to stop the inertia and felt her own body flip over the wall. Screaming, she could feel her own weight dragging her down before she felt another hand grab onto her and a familiar male voice yelling after her.

"Grab my hand! Whatever you do, don't let go!"

Looking up, Makoto could only see the shadowy figure looking down at her as he tried to drag her up. Her heart palpitated madly in fear. Was she going to fall?

"Don't worry… Even if it costs me my life… I'll protect you all your life! I won't let you come to harm!"

Yet those empty promises began to fade away as she felt her hand slipping from his and began to pummel down into the darkness below…

* * *

"GYAH!" Makoto screamed as her eyes flew open in shock from the nightmare. Panting heavily, she slowly got up from her bed as she tried to process what just happened back there. Taking a deep breath, she sighed before she muttered. "Ugh, just a dream…"

Suddenly, her alarm clock blared into her ears, scaring poor Makoto out of her wits once more. Slamming her alarm clock down, she quickly hopped out of bed. As she washed her face, brushed her teeth and applied some faint makeup, Makoto began to ponder on what she would be doing today.

"Most likely, I'd be helping out with Sis' current case once more…"

Sae Niijima, Makoto's sister, was a prosecutor who was helping the Police with a certain case that has got to do with a Mafia group which was involved with blackmailing people to smuggle drugs. Yet despite all the evidences and leads they had, the Mafia Boss was still unable to be found or even identified.

Stepping out of the bathroom and changing into her casual clothes, she walked out of her bedroom and greeted her sister. "Good morning, Sis."

The lady in the suit and long grey hair nodded curtly. "Good morning."

Makoto sighed internally. She was still as serious as professional as before. Couldn't Sae at least lighten up for once?

Grabbing a sandwich from the table, Makoto sat beside Sae and asked, "So… How's the case going right now?"

As she continued to stare at her laptop, Sae told her, "It seems the Mafia is targeting mostly high school students, but there are other victims of different age groups as well. The teachers at Shujin Academy have made the students who were victims of the blackmailing to confess, but none of them were willing to give a name."

Makoto nodded, absorbing the information. "So, are you going to the office today?"

She shook her head. "Probably not. I'll be busy with this case for quite a while. I don't think I have time to take any other cases. I guess you're going to be pretty bored at home, hm?"

She giggled. "You got me, Sis."

"Why not go outside and get some fresh air, then? I'm pretty sure being cooped up in here isn't going to help you. Or better yet," Sae closed her laptop for a moment and focused on Makoto. "You can try to get a job in a law firm like me by taking the bar exam and getting your license. You do have a degree in Law too, after all. I won't stress you out too much, however. After all…"

Makoto bit her lip when Sae's voice trailed off. Sae must have been still disturbed by the fact that her sister is amnesiac. Makoto had lost all of her memories of the past a couple of months ago due to head trauma, but thanks to her sister, she was starting to live life as a normal person once more.

"I guess… I'll have to consider that for a while first before I decide on what to do," Makoto said as she stepped back towards her room. "Well, I guess the only thing I can do right now is to go outside and take a quick breather. Later, Sis."

Sae nodded as she opened her laptop once more. "I'll see you later."

Yet Sae didn't realise that Makoto had a hidden motive as to why she decided to leave the house.

* * *

The cool water cascaded down his lean, slightly muscled back. The man with black hair which became white at the tips sighed in relief as he flicked the water droplet's out of his hair. Opening his sky blue eyes, he stepped out of the glass shower cubicle in the hotel room and dried himself out with a towel.

"Sweetheart, are you done?"

Smirking to himself, the man wrapped the towel around his waist and yelled back at the lady in the room, "Alright, alright! I'm coming, honey!"

Drying his feet on the carpet, he stepped outside of the bathroom and was greeted with the sight of the girl in the plush hotel bed. Smiling coyly, she whispered as she seductively pushed away part of the covers to reveal bare shoulders, as if beckoning to him. "Come here, dearie. I can't wait, you know~"

He gave a deep chuckle as he dived into the bed and caressed her face. "Be patient, and maybe you'll have your reward…"

Gently, he dipped down and began to kiss her neck, causing soft moans to come out from her throat. In return, her hands went down his back, as if to pull the towel off him.

BANG! BANG! SLAM!

Suddenly, the door burst open with a loud noise, and a couple of burly men stepped into the room. The blue-eyed male and the girl turned towards the door in horror as the main one quickly dashed over and smacked him over, bellowing in a furious voice,

"You! How dare you try to take my girlfriend?!"

He stared in terror as he lifted his hands in a begging gesture. "Wh-what?! I-I'm so sorry! I didn't know that she was your girlfriend! I thought she was…! Please don't beat me up…!"

The burly man gritted his teeth. "You made a cuckold out of me, you bitch! I'll lose face if this news spreads, you know?! … Oh, you know. Never mind. I guess this is just the perfect opportunity."

Then he turned to the blue-eyed male once more. "As compensation for my psychological losses, you'll just have to pay me 5 million yen."

"What?! That's like asking for the sky, you leech!"

Suddenly, the girl stood up and draped her arms over the burly man. "Come on, sweetheart. Didn't you say that you were the son of a boss of a listed company? You can easily ask for money from your father, no? If you don't… well, we'll just post the news of you being a third-wheel! How about that?"

He stared at them in disbelief. "So… So this is a set-up! You guys are a part of that Mafia which was involved with those blackmail!"

The man gave a deep chuckle. "So what if we are? If you want to play the field, have a gumption for it! Or if not… you can always take part in the part time job that we give to gullible students in Tokyo."

The blue-eyed male looked back in confusion. "And that is…?"

The mafia member gave a loud, hearty laugh which sent shivers down the other male's spine. "Why? Don't you know? It's the drug trafficking deal, of course! I'm surprised you don't know about it even though it's all over the news right now! But of course, no one is willing to tell the police who are the ones involved with the case…"

He raised his hands as a form of surrender. "I-I'm sorry, big boss! I can't taint my record, and I don't have that much cash with me right now! How about… How about this! I'll use this card as collateral first! Is that okay?!"

Curiously, the mafia member looked over at the lean man as he reached to grab his wallet and pulled out a card before showing it to him. He stared at it in confusion, until the blue-eyed male grinned a cat-like grin and turned the card over.

"Police?!"

The door burst open once more, and a hoard of police members came dashing in to apprehend the crooks, including two young female twins with golden eyes and silver hair. Grabbing his shirt, the blue-eyed male announced to the mafia members as he put his clothes back on,

"You're under arrest for alleged caught-in-bed frauds, blackmailing and for being part of the Yakuza that we are after. You may remain silent as everything you say will be held against you, or you may hire a lawyer to defend your case."

The burly male screamed in anger as he was pulled back by one of the police members, "You fucker! You dare set me up?!"

He chuckled back. "You should have been prepared for this day. Take them away!"

As he tied his trademark yellow bandana around his neck and watched the police officers take the crime syndicate members away, one of the twins grinned, "Great job as always, Morgana."

Morgana tilted his head and smiled back. "Same to you too."

* * *

Makoto wandered around the station, the words that the homeless man said echoing in her mind.

 _"They use some weird phrases. Code words, you know. That's how they communicate with each other. Anyways, watch out of you hear any of that stuff. They'll try to come for you even during the day. They may be relentless to teens especially, but I doubt they'll let go of anyone who potentially looks like they'll be of use to them."_

She had to find the mastermind of this entire syndicate - her sister had been too stressed out on that stupid case for far too long. She had to help her in any way possible… and for Makoto, there was only one way for her to do that.

Stepping out of the station, she walked down the street. Whatever she did, she must find out about the Mafia! As she entered Central Street, she turned down towards the alleyway - somewhere she would describe as the most suspicious place in all of Shibuya.

Makoto soon realised that she hit jackpot when she saw a dirty blond-haired male in a blue flowery shirt walk towards her.

"Hey, do you have some time? I have a great job for you. It's real easy. Guess you could call it a delivery job!"

Looks like she didn't have to look very hard in the end.

Makoto grabbed her bag as she took a deep breath and asked. "By delivery, do you mean that of suspicious materials?"

He chuckled. "Heh, you're a funny girl."

"… So, you won't answer me?" She stood her ground as she eyed the man very carefully and added, "Then I was right."

Suddenly, he shoved his face right into Makoto's, causing her to hold her breath in reflex. Who knew what that guy was eating earlier on…

"What's up with you anyway? Why are you asking all these questions, huh?"

Calmly, she replied, "Violence isn't the option, you know."

The guy took a deep breath before he stepped back and put on his overly-friendly demeanour once more. "Come on, lady. It was just a joke! I wouldn't get worked up over such a lovely lady like yourself. Anyways, I can't hang! See ya!"

Makoto gasped as he turned and began to stalk away. No, she couldn't just let her chance slip by like this!

"Hang on, if you don't want to deal with me, I could always go and see your boss myself. You guys are part of the mafia who have been blackmailing people in Shibuya, haven't you?"

He looked back at her with a dumbfounded gaze as he growled, "You're really going to say that, knowing who he is?! … Wait, actually, stay put for a little while, won't you?"

Stepping over to the side, he fished out his phone from his pocket and dialled someone's phone number before placing the receiver to his ear. "… Hello? Boss, a girl wants to meet you. I think that this time… we may have gotten ourselves a good one. … Okay, yes Boss. I'll bring her over."

Snapping his phone shut, he turned towards her and grinned. "He says he'll meet'cha. Let's move over to the car."

With her heart pounding in anticipation, Makoto followed the guy and got into the shiny black car. Now all she could do was to hope that they were really going to bring her to the crime syndicate's Mafia Boss.

* * *

"So, you're the one who wanted to talk to me?" The short, chubby man with orange-brown hair questioned her in his deep rumbling voice as his eyes roamed up and down her body, causing her to suddenly feel a sense of vulnerability.

Makoto gritted her teeth as she tried to wrestle herself free from the men who were holding her down onto the carpet floor. "Yeah… but I didn't ask to be pinned down by your men, Junya Kaneshiro!"

She was held hostage in a private pub room, where Junya Kaneshiro, the mastermind, had an arm around a girl with chin-length curly light auburn hair and brown doe-like eyes. He was decked in a rather exquisite set of designer clothing and had pierced ears. Makoto still couldn't believe that anyone, especially that mellow-looking girl sitting beside the boss, would actually be attracted to this revolting man.

Kaneshiro swirled the wine glass in his hand as he smirked. "You know what happens to anyone who snaps at me, don't you? Anyways," he turned to the girl and asked, "That bag you saw the other day — that crocodile one. How much was it?"

The girl giggled and said in a whiny, high-pitched voice, "About three million?"

Chuckling, he handed her a giant wad of cash from his suitcase of money, causing the girl to squeal in delight. "Oh! For real?!"

He nodded. "Better thank those guys. I'm royally pissed right now. Can't you tell? You know how spending money relieves stress? See that empty space there? I'm so pissed right now that there's a three million yen gap right there. It pisses me off more if I don't fill it up. After all, I'm a perfectionist. So… good luck. Release that girl."

The men quickly backed away from Makoto, allowing her to stand up. However, there was a huge flash of light in front of her, causing her to quickly shield her eyes. "Wh-what the…?"

He began chuckling even deeper and darker. "Come on, don't look so tense, my girl. I think I'll call it 'Debauchery at a Club'… Do you want me to send this to the media?"

Makoto gasped in horror. "That's—!"

However, he completely ignored her. "Oh, damn! I got booze and cigs in the shot too! Maybe even some drugs too…? Ah… this is hilarious! I feed on dumb shits like you, do you understand? Ms Makoto Niijima? Now listen up, if you run off to the police, I'll break you, starting with your family. Don't you have that beautiful sister on my case? You know, Prosecutor Sae Niijima?"

It was then when she snapped. "Don't you dare hurt my sister, you…!"

"I won't hurt your sister… if you can bring me three million yen in a month. Understand, Makoto Niijima?"

She trusted her own better judgement. No, she was definitely still going to run to the police after they released her.

* * *

Makoto turned to the side such that her red eyes were focused on the police station in front of her. This was it, wasn't it? This was the end… She couldn't even go and seek help from the police. What if he were to find out?

 _"Now listen up, if you run off to the police, I'll break you, starting with your family. Don't you have that beautiful sister on my case? You know, Prosecutor Sae Niijima?"_

Raising three million in a month… How on Earth was she going to do that? Thanks to her amnesia and hence her lack of knowledge of the past, she couldn't even get a job to feed herself and had to rely on her sister! True, she could go and proceed to get a part-time job, but that wouldn't be enough for her to earn three million yen even if she were to scrimp and save!

Disheartened, she turned away and began to walk down the concrete path like a zombie, her eyes starting to fog up.

CRASH!

Looking down, she realised that she had knocked over a metal garbage can. Slowly, she squatted down and began picking up all the waste and throwing them back into the trash can. That's right…. Her life was just as miserable as those bits and pieces of paper that she was picking up then, wasn't it? She had to fall into amnesia, and now she had an even worse problem to deal with! Why couldn't she be of any use to her sister, who was a much more commendable and remarkable person than she was?

Makoto began to feel tears slip from her eyes and roll down her rosy cheeks. Biting on her lower lip, she tried to keep her sobs in, but it was too difficult. Why? Why did this have to happen?

"… Hey, are you alright, Miss?"

Sullen, the red-eyed girl looked up to see a blue-eyed male with a yellow bandana around his neck. She looked down at his hand only to realise that he was offering her a handkerchief. Smiling softly, he added, "You may need this."

"… Thanks," she replied as she took the handkerchief from him and wiped the tears from her eyes and continued to pick up the remaining pieces of rubbish. Yet when she stood up and waned to return the handkerchief back to the guy, he had totally vanished.

* * *

She splashed her face with cold water as she stood in her bathroom once more. Turning off the tap, Makoto wiped her face with her towel and stared at her own dishevelled self in the mirror. She sighed. She had literally just went and threw her life away like that. What will they do once she's unable to pay the debt?

After washing up for bed, Makoto stumbled out of her room, causing Sae to look at her in worry. "Are you alright, Makoto?"

She nodded and smiled weakly. "Y-Yeah, I'm fine, Sis. Thanks."

Sae looked back at her in skepticism, but decided not to say anything. However, just as Makoto went to get a glass of milk to calm herself down, Sae launched into a conversation with her.

"Hey, do you remember that professional con artist whom I had prosecuted against a couple of years ago?"

"… Oh, you mean, that man? Akira Kurusu, was it?"

Sae nodded. "Apparently, I just received news that he's going to be released tomorrow. His prison term is quite short, probably because he had confessed to his crimes."

"O-Oh, I see. Why are you telling me this, though?" Makoto asked as she took a drink of milk and continued to hold the mug in her hands.

"I just thought that it'll be better if I could take your mind off your troubles and distract you for a while… But I guess that didn't help. Why not you head off to bed after finishing your milk?"

"Yes, Sis."

Yet as she began to wash her cup, an idea began to form in her head. The only thing she could hope is that her plan would actually work this time.

It was a huge gamble, but she had no other choice.

* * *

Though it was morning, the sun was already shining down brightly onto the courtyard at the front of the prison buildings. The bright blue sky was just another indicator that it was going to be another hot, sweltering day again.

Stepping to the side, one of the prison wardens went over to one of the cells and yelled at one of the prisoners, "Prisoner 8954! You're free to go!"

One of the prisoners, a male with short, curly black hair, stood up and walked out of the jail cell with a bag in hand. Decked in a black collared shirt, long black pants and belt, he put on a coat and a pair of sunglasses before officially stepping out of the prison gates. Looking back for a moment, he smiled briefly before he continued to moved forward.

"Hey, you're going to wear all of that on a hot summer morning?"

Upon hearing the familiar voice, he turned to the police officer. "Long time no see, Lavenza."

Lavenza chuckled as she ran her fingers through her own hair. "You know, I still don't understand. You were literally toying with the police by showing them your location through pictures, then proceeded to even threaten me when I found out where you were. You could've fled right there and then, but you still handcuffed yourself and turned yourself in?"

Akira smiled. "Well, would you have believed me if I said that I wanted to redeem myself?"

"You think?"

"Then why did you ask in the first place?" He asked back as he stepped past the lady officer and walked down the street.

However, she still turned towards him and yelled, "Hey, Akira Kurusu! Lead a decent life and don't run afoul of the law again! Or I'll send you back in there again!"

Akira simply smiled and gave an 'OK' signal before he continued his way down.


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: I do not own Persona 5!_

 _Just to clear things up, Lavenza, Caroline and Justine are three different characters. In this AU, Lavenza is the oldest sister of twin sisters Caroline and Justine. Makoto seems helpless in this AU, but that's mostly because she's desperate to help her sister out. (There's also another reason, but it will not be revealed until much later.)_

 _With that, enjoy the story!_

* * *

Advancing forward with a book in hand, Makoto quickly trailed behind the man with the black coat and short, curly hair, pausing once every moment and pretending to read her book when she felt that he was going to turn behind. Walking down the streets of Yongen-Jaya, she watched as he helped an elderly lady on the street.

"Huh… I guess he really is a nice person."

He continued to advance, causing Makoto to gasp and quickly tag along behind him, careful not to catch his eye. However, when she saw him starting to turn back, she quickly stepped to the side and lifted her book to her eyes, carefully peeking behind the covers of the book.

"Wait a second, where did he go?!"

Shocked to realise that she had lost him, Makoto walked down the entire street, but he was nowhere to be found. Could he be in the back streets? Desperate, she trudged towards the back alley of the buildings in the area, yet it seemed as if he had vanished into thin air.

"... So you were the one who followed me?"

Horrified to suddenly hear a voice, Makoto whirled around to see the very man whom she had wanted to find - the con artist, Akira Kurusu. A blank face was plastered on his face, as if he was unfazed and unimpressed. Giggling nervously, Makoto wiped a bead of sweat off her face and tried to laugh it off. "H-Hey! Fancy meeting that professional con artist here! Don't try to con me out of my money, okay? Wow... this book is so interesting..."

As she continued to stare at her book, she found the strange silence unnerving. Putting it down, Makoto freaked out to see that he was walking away. Dashing towards him, she halted in front of him as she squeezed her eyes shut and gasped out, "Please, Kurusu-san! I need your help! I've been... I've gotten into trouble with a Mafia Boss, and now I've implicated my sister too, and I... Oh gosh, what am I saying?"

However, when she opened her eyes again, he was walking the other way. Screaming in frustration, she quickly rushed after him.

"Please! I'm really desperate right now! I went after Junya Kaneshiro because I wanted to help my sister solve the case of the blackmail happening in Shibuya recently, but he ended up conning me and is forcing me to pay him 3 million yen. If I don't do anything, he'll do something to my sister!"

Akira Kurusu stared at her for a few brief moments before he suddenly spoke.

"Makoto Niijima, the sister of the famous prosecutor, Sae Niijima..."

Makoto gasped in shock. "You know me?"

However, he ignored her question, and continued as he removed his sunglasses, staring into her red eyes with his very own grey ones, "... Yet you're still asking a con artist for help. You do know that there will be severe consequences for this, don't you?"

Makoto was at her wits' end. "The consequences will be even more dire for Sae and me if you don't help us! Please! You're literally the only guardian angel that I can turn to right now—"

He raised a finger. "I'm a devil, not an angel. If you're going to make a deal with a devil, it is going to come at a very huge price. Do you not understand? No wonder you're so naive to actually become live bait for Junya Kaneshiro… Now get off my back. I do have places to go to."

Before he could even leave, Makoto grabbed his hand. "W-Wait! I'll do anything for you if you help me out! Anything!"

Akira looked back at her before he chuckled and leaned against the wall. "Fine. How much do you have?"

Makoto fished out her wallet and flipped through the amount of cash that she had, pulling out a couple of bills. "W-Well… I have about 30 thousand yen with me right now. I guess I can go to the bank to withdraw another 50 thousand yen, but my sister keeps my debit card, so…"

However, Akira stepped forward and gingerly held her wrist, pointing towards the silver watch that she had. She gasped. "B-But that's from my sister! … Ugh, okay…"

As she handed him the watch and the cash, however, Akira pushed the cash back to her, only taking the silver watch. "This watch is enough for now. Stay here. I'll be back in a jiffy."

Akira stepped past her and began to walk down the street once more. Makoto stared at his disappearing figure, praying that she hadn't gotten herself duped once again.

"H-Hey! When will you be coming back…?"

* * *

It was daytime, but the streets of Shinjuku was already bustling with activity. Cafés were full of customers, and adults were already getting drunk in pubs. Many stalls stood around as the people roaming around slowly got attracted to the products that they were selling.

"Is it true? This skin product has gold and many other minerals in it?"

The lady behind one of the stands nodded with a beaming smile, her long, luscious blond locks, blue eyes and gorgeous looks dazzling the crowd. "Of course, miss! Take a look! The reason why my skin is so smooth and clean is because of this cream! Just use it after you wash your face, and wait for a while before you apply your toner to close up your pores! That way, you won't be seeing blackheads or acne growing on your skin!"

A woman standing in front of the stall stared in awe, her eyes shining. "Wow…! That sounds amazing! How much is it?"

"Because there are traces of gold in this and it's imported from overseas, it's a little more expensive than the usual skin products. However, since it's on discount right now, prices have been slashed to only eighty percent of the original price! It was originally selling at fourteen thousand yen, but right now, it's selling at eleven thousand and two hundred yen!"

As expected, the money began to pile all over as the rabid customers began to snatch for the products. The lady began to laugh quietly as she handed each customer a bottle of the cream and they hurriedly paid her before continuing on their shopping trip. Calculating the money, she smiled to herself as she placed the money into a box. Just then, a shadow loomed over.

"Hello! Would you like to see some of our products? They are currently on sale right now!"

"… I'd like a product that will help to peel all of my skin off."

She slowly nodded before she realised what on Earth that man had just said and turned towards him in shock. "Peel all of your skin off?! … Oh my god."

Standing right in front of her was her leader, who had his arms folded and had a displeased look on his face.

"… Ann Takamaki. What on earth is this?"

* * *

The blond-haired man stood on the pavement of the streets in Akihabara, his brown eyes darting back and forth. They soon laid on a boy who was cycling on the pavement, and his mouth curled into a cunning smile.

Serves that boy right for cycling on the pavement, anyways. How dangerous.

As the boy cycled closer, he suddenly stepped into the boy's path, causing the boy to scream as he crashed into the man, sending him sprawling all over the floor. The man screeched in agony as he fell onto his arm, causing a loud sickening crack to echo into the air.

"Ah… Ah…! Sir, are you okay?!" the boy asked worriedly as he tried to help the man up.

He gritted his teeth. "You broke my god damn arm! Do you think I'm okay?! Damn it! I try my best not to get into accidents because I'm broke and don't want to waste money on medical fees, and now this had to happen!"

Suddenly, the boy's mother ran over to them with a horrified look on her face. "Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry that my son ran into you! I'll compensate you for what happened. How much will it be?"

"One typical treatment for a broken arm is at least two hundred thousand yen! How are you going to compensate me like this? Do you even have the money?" he yelled as he clutched his right arm and winced in pain. "This is the arm I use to feed myself too… how are you going to compensate that?!"

"I-I'm so sorry! I'll try to—"

"Ryuji Sakamoto."

Shocked to hear his name being called, the blond-haired man turned behind only to freak out upon seeing the professional con artist with an unimpressed look on his face.

"Don't worry about that broken arm. I'll fix up your money problems, is that okay?"

Ryuji Sakamoto, the man, sighed in defeat as he glared at the mother and son. "Ugh, fine. Just forget about the incident!"

Then he turned and walked along with Akira Kurusu back to their base.

* * *

Loud thunder rumbled in the distance before fat droplets of rain began to fall onto Makoto's head, causing her to groan at her own unluckiness as she opened her bag to search for her umbrella.

"Ugh, I'm stuck in the alleyway in the rain? That's a perfect match… now where's my umbrella?"

Alas, she didn't bring any protection from the rain. She huffed in irritation as she leaned against the wall. She had to wait for him to come back, after all.

But it's been at least two hours. Where would he have gone to?

Whimpering softly as she watched the other people walk down the alleyway with colourful umbrellas over their heads, the only thing she could do was to hold her bag up over her head as a minuscule shelter from the rain.

* * *

"Ugh… No soda in the fridge? You kidding me, bro?" Ryuji groaned as he slammed the refrigerator door shut.

Ann frowned as she tossed her coat onto the couch. "That's real unhealthy, Ryuji."

He snorted in amusement as he adjusted his fedora. "Says the one who's always eating sweet food day and night. I swear, if you're going to eat forty-eight cakes out of fifty, you're gonna get diabetes at this rate."

"Hey!"

"Ryuji," Akira suddenly spoke up as he pointed to the small obstacle course that they had in their home. "If you finish the course before I do, I'll allow you to drink as much soda as you want, okay?"

The brown-eyed man snapped his fingers and grinned as he took off his hat, placed it on the dining table and walked towards the starting point. "It's a deal!"

The horn blared, and the two dashed off, displaying their parkour skills as they hopped over the hurdles and flipped themselves over tall walls. However, when Ryuji looked up after finishing his course, he realised that Akira was already there.

Panting, he huffed, "You're still as fast as ever, huh…"

Akira turned back to his friend with a concerned look. "Looks like your leg's really deteriorating. What happened to you? You were always the best in these courses, you know."

Ryuji sighed and shook his head. "Have you forgotten about the first case you took up for the two of us? My leg was broken up by that Suguru Kamoshida. It hasn't recovered ever since, and I don't think it ever will."

There was a brief silence as they walked back before Ryuji chuckled bitterly. "Pathetic, huh? I can only prey on children and their mothers now. I'm such a loser."

Ann nodded as she handed both of them a drink. "I've been struggling recently, too. I can only act as a salesperson right now, conning those ladies who just want to be beautiful. That's literally the lowest of the lowest of con artists…"

Akira took a deep breath before he smiled back at them. "Why not we all work together again as the Phantoms?"

His friends stared at him with surprised eyes. Ryuji spluttered, "You serious?!"

The black-haired man nodded. "But, on a few conditions. Ryuji, I want you to train your leg as much as possible. It may be a permanent injury, but if you're not going to train at all, it's going to lose all of its muscle. Ann, I want you to stop your candy addiction and stick to a healthy diet. Only one sweet cookie a day. I want top swindlers in this team, and I know you guys are more than capable, okay?"

Ryuji nodded as he took back his fedora. "Yeah, I guess that ain't an excuse for me not to train, huh. I've been pretty lazy lately."

Ann whined and collapsed onto the couch. "Ugh… no sweet food except for one cookie per day?! You're driving me mad, Akira… Come on, I have a great metabolism rate!"

He chuckled. "Not when you're the slowest runner of the team such that even Futaba can fight better than you do."

"Ugh… alright."

* * *

Night fell, and the dark blue sky shimmered in the reflection of the rain which had gotten heavier in the last couple of hours. Still standing in the alleyway of Yongen-Jaya, Makoto could feel the disappointment in her heart growing as she sobbed,

"Makoto Niijima… You've been conned again… Why did I not listen to my own better judgement and went for my own instincts again? I've never done that before! I'm so stupid to take a conman's words for it…!"

She had been standing in the rain for at least six hours, and the summer rain showed absolutely no signs of stopping at all. Despite it being summer, the fact that she was drenched to the bone still allowed the winds to send a chill down her spine. It was so, so cold…

Makoto shook her head in despair as she began to walk out of the alleyway. The wind was howling right by her ears, and her wet clothes weren't doing anything to warm her up either. She wanted to give up, she wanted to give up…

She couldn't take it anymore. The weather conditions were too much for her to take, and she closed her eyes and fell back.

Yet she didn't realise that she had fallen into the warm embrace of the man who was holding an umbrella to shield her from the rain.

As Akira lifted the girl up such that she was lying on his back, he lifted his phone to his ear and answered with a soft smile,

"You don't need to worry. She's safe now."

* * *

Makoto's eyes fluttered, adjusting to the brightness of the room which was illuminated by the sunlight shining from the window… could it even be considered a window? It looked as if a window could fit in there, but there was no glass plane at all! Instead, vines and creepers decorated the wall just right outside that space.

Clutching her head, Makoto sat up and muttered, "Where am I…?"

Turning to her side, she saw a blond-haired, voluptuous lady applying mascara on her eyelashes before snapping her make-up box shut and turning to her, revealing the prettiest blue eyes she had ever seen. The lady smiled at her.

"Oh, you're awake, Makoto! That's fantastic!"

It was only after a few seconds did Makoto finally register what was going on. Screaming in shock, she yelled, "Who are you?! How do you know my name?!"

The lady stared at Makoto with a raised eyebrow. "Wh-Who am I? You don't even need to scream that. It's written all over your face…"

"Here's the thing, alright." The door opened and a male with blond hair and brown eyes stepped into the room with a plateful of food. Makoto could immediately tell that his hair was bleached, then dyed. A black fedora with a yellow stripe sat on his head.

As he handed the plate over to her, he told her, "You passed out on the road. It was our boss who brought you back here since he couldn't help seeing you shivering in the rain back there." He then tipped his hat and greeted, "Anyways, I'm Ryuji Sakamoto. This girl here's Ann Takamaki."

Ann smiled back. "Hello!"

Makoto was confused. "Who's your boss…?"

At that moment, the door opened again, and he, the guy whom she had been waiting for, stepped in. Ryuji could only snigger as he said, "Speak of the devil. 'Sup, Akira?"

Her eyes widened in anger as she placed the food down onto the end table. "It's you?! To think that I was such an idiot to wait for you in the rain, dumbly expecting for you to arrive! Listen, I had enough, okay?! I'm not going to be fooled once again by you con artists!"

Akira shrugged. "That doesn't mean a con artist can't keep his part of the bargain."

Makoto could nearly feel her brain go on a mental shutdown as she tried to comprehend everything he had just said. "You're… you're willing to help me?"

Stepping forward, Akira gestured to Ryuji and Ann. "These are my teammate. They have probably already introduced themselves to you. I have another team member downstairs, but you shall meet her later. We're called the Phantoms."

The brown-haired girl could only stare back in amazement. However, Akira continued, "Let's make this clear. I'll erase everything that Kaneshiro has on you and ensure that he gets sent to jail, but the money that he has all comes to me, okay?"

Makoto nodded, still feeling dumbfounded by everything that was going on.

"Also…" Akira added as he headed towards the door. "Since you know about us, you're officially a part of the Phantoms as well. Do I make this clear? Now eat your breakfast, then come downstairs. We have work to do."

"W-Wait, what?!" Makoto didn't have a chance to say anything else as Akira closed the door behind him.

Ryuji scratched the back of his head. "Come on, I made the food! Just eat it, Makoto. It makes any chef smile when their food's been praised, you know!"

She stared down at the plateful of scrambled eggs, bacon and cheese toast. Now that she had sniffed it, she was indeed feeling hungry. Picking up the plate and utensils, she began to wolf it down in a behaviour that she never had before. Makoto was always trying to act refined and professional, but recently, it seemed like her weariness was tearing her apart.

Ann gawked. "Whoa, slow down, Makoto! It's okay! His food doesn't taste that great, anyways!"

"Hey! I take pride in my food, okay?!"

* * *

After finishing that rather sumptuous breakfast, Makoto walked down with the plate in her hand to wash it. Ann and Ryuji remained upstairs, telling her that they were going to grab some stuff for the plan before they come down to join her.

"Alright, hacking training, complete."

"Hm?!" Curious to hear a voice, Makoto turned towards the source of the voice only to see a rather petite girl with short orange hair, a pair of headphones, glasses and an oversized green jacket with fur emboidering the hood. She was slurping away at a bowl of instant noodles as she tapped away at her laptop.

As she stepped forward to take a look at the girl, Makoto grimaced at the bowl of instant noodles that she was eating. How is anyone able to guzzle down so much of that disgusting trash that's processed with so much chemicals? Then again, Makoto herself is a health nut, so she probably wouldn't be able to ever understand the pleasures of eating such unhealthy foods.

Even though she peered closer, it seemed that the girl didn't even notice her. Either that, or she just couldn't bother to. Her eyes were focused on the screen in front of her.

"You shouldn't be spying on people. That's invading their privacy."

Makoto gave a loud shriek as she quickly spun to see Akira standing behind her. Regaining composure, she took a deep breath before she spoke, "I don't even know who she is-"

"You're disturbing me, lady."

Suddenly, the girl stood up and placed her headphones on the table. Walking towards her, the girl asked Makoto, "So you're the girl whom Akira snagged back."

"S-Snagged back?!"

"Don't mind her. She's rather frank with her words," Akira explained before he introduced, "Futaba Isshiki, the Phantom's computer genius."

"O-Oh, I see. It's a pleasure to meet you, Futaba," Makoto nodded at the orange-haired girl and reached her hand out. However, Futaba simply stared silently before slapping Makoto's palm in a friendly way and saying a simple,

"Hello."

Makoto could only sweat-drop at Futaba's quick introduction. However, Akira's words snapped her out of her thoughts.

"We're going to be talking about the plan now. Go into the lounge room you see right there. We'll meet you there shortly."

Still feeling a little confused at what was going on, Makoto could only nod obediently before she started walking towards the room which he pointed her towards. Looking around, the house seemed rather luxurious. Where exactly were they?

Yet as she walked into the room, she didn't notice Futaba stare at her back and mutter,

"Welcome back."

* * *

 _Author's note:_

 _Hello guys, this is A1t0aria! Now, for those who are starting to feel confused, I'm going to explain why Futaba's surname is Isshiki, and not Sakura like in the original Persona 5 game._

 _This entire universe is a totally different setting altogether. While there may be many similarities, certain characters have to be displaced such that the plot can resume like I want to. Hence, in this AU, Sojiro does not adopt Futaba, which is why she still holds on to her mother's surname. As for why the other Phantom Thieves (or in this AU, the Con Artists) have not been introduced... I'll leave it up to your imagination. (It should be pretty obvious, judging by the clues I've planted everywhere.)_

 _The storyline will not really follow Persona 5, but most of the events that happened in Persona 5 will be adapted into this AU as well._

 _Anyways, thanks for reading this fan fiction, and I hope you like this little idea that I have to make this a Persona 5 Con Artist AU!_


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer: I do not own Persona 5!_

 _All the Arabic phrases used here are literally taken from Google Translate along with some research from some guides online. If anyone has a better translation for the phrases, please do tell me. I would gladly appreciate it!_

 _Anyways, I'm pretty sure that by now, you all should know by now who's on which side._ _It is supposed to be pretty obvious, actually... People were supposed to infer from the first chapter that Morgana was part of the police force, and the cover was supposed to show which sides the characters are on._

 _NOTICE: I may have to take a longer time to finish this story, because I haven't even started on Chapter 4 yet. Hence, if I'm unable to post a chapter every week, I hope you guys can understand that it's because I'll be very busy next month._

 _With that, enjoy the story!_

* * *

"Wh... what on earth are you two wearing...?!" Makoto gawked at both Ryuji and Ann, who seemed to be disguising as some sort of older adult couple, complete with some gaudy clothes which looked like they just stepped out of one of the richer countries in the world.

"Well, we are your new pair of parents now, Makoto!" Ann giggled as she bowed at Makoto. " _Salam_!"

Makoto could only stare in astonishment. "What the... what language are you speaking?!"

"The main language from Qatar, of course!" Ryuji grinned widely. "Or should I say… basically Arabic. _Sabah alkhyr, aibnatu_!"

"That means 'Good morning, daughter'," Akira translated before he explained. "These two are now your rich parents from Qatar who have decided to adopt you and pay for both yours and your sister's living expenses despite you two being young adults. This man is Katsuo Nakamura, aged 52, and owns many companies. He is a very successful investor, and is a billionaire. This here is his wife and your adoptive mother from Finland: Sinikka Autio, aged 50. The two of them had moved from studying and living in Japan over to Qatar many years ago to set up a business overseas, and have made it rich. Now, they've come back to Japan for a vacation."

Makoto looked at Akira, then back at the other two. "Wh-what on earth?!"

Suddenly, Akira dumped a couple of files into her lap. "These are the basic, common phrases that we use, translated into Arabic. I want you to learn all of these phrases in three days."

"Three days? I-I'm not sure if I can do it..."

"You have to do it. Else, we won't be able to get back at Kaneshiro on time," Akira explained before he gestured to his two assistants, "Plus, these two did it in just one day. You can do it. I'll tell you more about the plan... if you can complete the task. Else, we'll just abort the entire mission altogether."

Makoto was awed. "You guys did it all in one day...?"

Ann and Ryuji nodded pridefully.

Makoto sighed. Looks like trying to save both her sister's and her own skin was going to be difficult.

* * *

Makoto screamed as she flipped herself out of the couch in the house, breathing heavily from experiencing the nightmare once more. As she tried to calm herself down, Makoto suddenly heard a voice.

"Nightmare?"

Shocked, Makoto turned behind only to realise that Akira Kurusu was sitting in the couch beside the one that she was sleeping in. Stunned, Makoto simply nodded.

"It's a recurring nightmare of mine…"

Akira lifted a mug of milk to his lips. "Recurring?"

"Yeah. I always have the same nightmare nearly every night. I'm surprised at how I still get a good night's rest once in a while…" Makoto sighed as she tucked some of her hair behind her ear where her braid hairband laid. "There will be an unseen man in my dreams. Then I would fall, and he would grab me and yell that he would always protect me and never let me come to harm… For some reason, it feels like déjà vu. It's as if it has happened before…"

Suddenly, she gasped. "Wait a minute… I haven't told my sister that I'm staying here for the moment! She must be worried sick! I must—"

"Don't worry about it. I've contacted your sister and told her that you would be staying at a friend's house for a while since you literally fell ill outside. I told her that it would be dangerous to bring you back home. Your sister was suspicious, but it seemed that she trusted me enough to allow you to continue to stay here."

Makoto soon felt herself relax. "You know… I just wanted to clear my sister's case for her. She's been under so much stress lately, she's literally losing her hair over it. Yet because I want to be useful to her, this had to happen…"

Akira looked at her for a moment. "I see… no wonder Kaneshiro was able to get a hold on you."

She turned back to look at him. "What do you mean?"

He stood up and explained as he walked around, "All of us have a soft spot. We have an affection and peculiar attachment to certain things. Kaneshiro used exactly that, your attachment to your sister, to blackmail you and get you into trouble. It's pretty obvious - Sae Niijima's a famous prosecutor, so most likely, you're kind of well-known too. Considering that there was some information leak that you were conditioned with amnesia, Kaneshiro must have known that you were very dependant on your sister."

Makoto brought a hand to her chin. "So that's how he did it…"

Akira nodded before he sat back down. "Now, I must also warn you about something. Being a con artist is the same as being an actor or actress. However, the difference is that while actors and actresses get to have many no-good takes…"

He slowly began to lean closer towards her and muttered, "Us con artists only need one no-good shot for us to lose our lives."

* * *

"' _Kaifa haloka_?' That means 'How are you?'" Makoto recited before she snapped her fingers and added, "' _Kaifa halok_ i?' is for females. ' _Ana bekhair, shokran!_ ' That is 'I'm fine, thanks!' in English..."

"Hey, are you really going to burrow your nose into that file all day?" Ann asked with a small chuckle upon seeing Makoto's head in the giant ring file even as she walked down the stairs. "Be careful that you don't fall down as you read that, okay?"

Makoto snapped the file shut. "If I have to memorise all of this in three days, I'll do it. I've already covered most of the basic phrases, so I should be fine."

"Ooh, not bad at all!" Ann grinned in approval before she asked curiously, "Hey, not to be rude or anything, but... how old are you, exactly?"

"Huh? Well... I'm 26. Probably."

She raised an eyebrow. "Probably?"

Makoto nodded wih a small sigh. "I lost all of my memories of the past a few months ago, so I don't have any recollection of everything that I had experieced before."

Ann looked at her worriedly. "I-I see. No wonder..."

However, Makoto caught the words Ann had said and looked at her curiously. "'No wonder'?"

The blond-haired girl gasped before she quickly put on a smile. "Oh, it's nothing! Anyways, Akira asked me to check on how you were doing, so I guess I'm done right here. Good luck!"

Makoto raised an eyebrow at Ann's strange behaviour, but still smiled back, "Thank you, Ann. That means a lot to me."

"Aw, you really are a sweet talker, huh?" Ann giggled before she patted Makoto's shoulder. "I got to go - I still need to ensure that my part of the mission is prepared. See ya, Makoto!"

Ann continued to walk back into her room, but her smile faded as she closed the door behind her. Sighing, she closed her eyes before she turned and walked away.

* * *

"Now, not only do you have to learn how to act, but you need to do it such that others can be easily fooled by your acting." Akira told her sternly as Makoto sipped on her cup of tea. "Now, imagine that I'm Junya Kaneshiro."

Makoto groaned inwardly. She had passed the test to memorise all of those phrases already! What else did he want her to do?! However, Akira leaned closer in a scarily dominating pose with a sinister smile on his face as he said,

"I see now, Makoto Niijima. So you're now the heir of such a rich family, eh? Well, well... this is just the perfect opportunity..."

Makoto was confused! "Wh-what the...? What are you doing?!"

"Then... taking just three million yen... That would be too little for someone like you, don't you think?" Akira grinned before he removed his hands from the couch and turned his back on her. "What do you think?"

Makoto felt herself snap, forgetting that it was all just an act. "How dare you... that's too much of you, Junya Kaneshiro! Be glad I didn't send your name to the police!"

"Oh? Have you really forgotten about your poor older sister, my dear?" Akira chuckled darkly before reverting back and looking straight at Makoto. "Listen, Makoto. That sense of justice is indeed pretty heroic, but it's exactly because of that, that's why Kaneshiro was able to get his hold on you. Don't try to throw yourself under the bus, or else even I will not be able to do anything to save you."

"Then what am I supposed to do?"

"Strike a bargain with him. Kaneshiro is a man who would accept any deal in which he can benefit a lot from. Don't forget: your father, or Ryuji in this case, is a successful investor," Akira explained before he fished out his phone and continued,

"Get prepared to listen to the entire plan - I'm calling the rest of the team over, and I won't repeat explaining the plan even once."

* * *

Makoto gulped as she stood in front of the bar which Kaneshiro frequently went to. Heart palpitating, she slowly began to walk forward, trying her best to proceed with the plan which Akira had organised for them.

"Calm down, Makoto!" Ann, who was decked in an outfit fit for the richest ladies of the world, smiled reassuringly at her. "You can do this! We'll follow after you!"

Ryuji nodded. "You've got this in the bag!"

Futaba tapped the button of her glasses as she scanned around the place. "Security here isn't that high for him, since this isn't Kaneshiro's real hideout. It should be fine."

Taking a deep breath, Makoto stepped into the bar which will dimly illuminated with colourful LED lights. Carrying the brown paper envelope with her, Makoto glanced around to ensure that there was no one following her in.

"Oh, so the prosecutor's little sister is here," one of the man mocked when she came to a pause in front of Kaneshiro's private bar room. "Whaddya doing here three weeks early, little girl? The deadline ain't here yet!"

"W-Well..." Makoto couldn't help but feel intimidated by the men, but she had to do this. Taking another breath to calm herself, she replied, "I have the money with me now. I'm here to repay my debt."

The men glanced at each other before some of them headed inside. Moments later, they came out. "He says he'll see you. Go in."

Makoto tried to put on a brave front, yet she could feel her legs shaking madly as she began to walk into the dimmer room. There, right on front of her, was Junya Kaneshiro, who still had his arm around that same lady and a prideful smile on her face.

"So, I heard you have the money?"

She nodded as she pulled out an envelope. "Three million yen, all here."

The overweight man took the bundle from her and opened it, flipping through the crisp green notes. "Interesting... Very interesting... There really is three million yen in this brown envelope..."

Seeing that Kaneshiro had gone quiet, she muttered timidly, "Um, can I go now?"

"Not so fast, little lady," he called out as he opened the luggage full of money and placed the giant bundle back inside. "You've gotten me interested... how did you get all of this money in a week?"

"I-I asked my sister for a loan-"

Kaneshiro suddenly burst out laughing loudly and haughtily, causing Makoto's worried frown to crease even deeper. Could it be that...?

"Grab her!"

Without warning, all of the men piled onto her once more, causing Makoto to gasp as she crashed onto the ground once more. Looking up in horror, Makoto could only stare at Kaneshiro's furious eyes in horror.

"Do you really think I'm that stupid, Makoto Niijima? I know all about it from online - you've been adoped by a millionaire, and had him clear your debt, didn't you?" he growled. "I don't like it when people lie to me, bitch. You'd better not be hiding anything from me, or I'll be royally pissed!"

"... And what else are you going to be doing with my daughter, Mr Kaneshiro?"

A new voice rang out from outside, causing all eyes to fall onto the doorway. There stood a grey-haired man decked in a suit, a blond-haired lady with her arm draped over his, and another petite but aggressive-looking girl standing beside the pair.

On cue, Makoto quickly screamed out in Arabic, "Baba!"

Kaneshiro huffed and returned back to his seat. "And who the hell are you?"

"You'd best watch your mouth and your movements carefully, Mr Kaneshiro," Ryuji said in a suave, smooth tone such that Makoto could barely even recognise him. Even his posture was totally different from how he usually stands!

Kaneshiro glanced at Ryuji before he remarked in a snarky tone, "Oh, really? Let me guess - are you the man who adopted Makoto Niijima here? Katsuo Nakamura? What is a man as great as you doing here?"

He replied calmly, "I'm here to bring my daughter back home. Now, if you would just unhand her for the moment..."

However, just as he walked towards Makoto, one of Kaneshiro's men still stood up and shoved himself right into the con artist's face, growling, "The hell do you think we are, huh?!"

"Unhand Miss Makoto this instant!"

Makoto nearly freaked out when she heard Futaba yell like that and walk right up towards the guy! Who knew such a small girl would have such lung power and courage?

Ann stopped her, continuing the act. "Calm down, Shiki-chan. Let Katsuo here do the talking, okay?"

Meanwhile, Ryuji continued his little chat with Kaneshiro. "I see now... so you are like a Banker who wouldn't let go of his customers that easily, huh? Well then... how about I make a deal with you?"

Kaneshiro immediately frowned. "Huh? What kind of shady deal is this?"

"Here's the thing, Mr Kaneshiro..." Ryuji said as he began to walk around the room. "You are a Banker who owns a bank full of money at your own disposal. Don't you think you should... you know, do something with that money to make a gigantic profit for yourself? And being one of the world's greatest investors, I must say: a man like yourself is someone whom I wouldn't give up on that easily as a business partner. So... what do you say?"

"Are you trying to say that I should invest in your business, Mr Nakamura?"

Ryuji nodded. "Of course! You can invest in my business and earn so money, it wouldn't fit into your house! On the other hand, however, if you'd like to consider investing, you must first release my daughter. Deal?"

Kaneshiro glared before he sighed in irritation. "Fine, you can have your useless daughter back. But I'll have to consider it first, got it?"

He smiled as he fished a name card and handed it over. "Fantastic! Here's the name card of the manager who takes care of all the investments of my business. Give him a call and talk to him if you'd like to invest. If you really do so, then I'm glad about our partnership. Come on, Makoto, let's go."

The men loosened their hold on the red-eyed girl, and she wrenched herself free before making her escape with the rest of the group.

* * *

"Boo-yah! And that's another job well done!" Ryuji grinned as he gave a whoop of delight, removed his wig and wiped the disguise makeup off his face.

Makoto nodded, though a look of skepticism was still flashed on her face. "I'm surprised that Kaneshiro would fall for that so easily, though..."

Ann laughed lightly as she adjusted her hair back into the twin tails, "It's probably because Kaneshiro knows more than to anger a millionaire who can easily have his hands around him."

Meanwhile, Akra stepped in and gave a nod of approval. "Good job, you guys have accomplished the first part of the mission. And Makoto, that acting, though it still needs to be refined, wasn't too bad either."

"R-Really? Thanks..."

"You guys take a break for now. Futaba and I must ensure that everything is prepared for the next part of the plan."

As Makoto watched Akira step out, she couldn't help but wonder: how did all of them become con artists in the first place...?

"Heh, are you wondering about our origins?"

Shocked, Makoto whirled around to see both Ryuji and Ann looking back at her. "How did you know?!"

"As con artists, we need to be able to easily read the expressions of those around us," Ann smiled back. "I guess I got to admit, it wasn't very easy to do that when I first joined the Phantoms... Ryuji also pretty much sucked at acting at first, but, believe it or not, he actually progressed even faster than I did."

"We all started as normal students at Shujin Academy," Ryuji added before a look of sorrow streaked his face for a second. "But then... Because of the advances of a man called Suguru Kamoshida, well... Ann's friend nearly..."

"Don't worry, Shiho's alright now, though," she quickly finished, but Makoto could tell that she was holding a few tears back.

The blond-haired boy sighed as he continued, "It was that bastard who broke my leg such that I couldn't run anymore and made Ann's life horrible. We nearly wanted to give up, but that was when he stepped in and decided that he couldn't see this injustice go down. So he did his job - scamming Kamoshida into revealing all of his crimes and anonymously turning the evidence in to the police."

Makoto nodded. "So he really is a nice guy... I always thought he was a little cold."

"You just need to warm up to him," the blue-eyed girl chuckled lightly.

"You know, it's pretty damn ironic," Ryuji quipped in suddenly before he gave a bitter chuckle. "The people in my school avoided me because they think I'll ruin their lives as a delinquent. I actually punched Kamoshida once, which caused him to have a reason to disband the Track and Field team. I didn't want Kamoshida to continue tormenting the students with blackmail and stuff like that, so I joined Akira in taking him down. Yet when I did that, I set myself into a life of crime... the one type of person which everyone feared in our school. No one knew, not even my mom."

Ann nodded. "We all have our own reasons in joining the Phantoms. My main reason is to actually help Akira as much as I can, because I know that I can never thank him enough for helping us to deal with Kamoshida that day."

Makoto pressed her lips together. No wonder they would voluntarily become con artists... She knew con artists were considered as evil to the society, but sometimes, she couldn't help but wonder if they had a choice. Now, she knew better.

"Um... I'm sorry if I'm being a bother, but what about Futaba?"

"As for Futaba, you got to ask her yourself," Ann replied before she stood up and smiled. "Her reason is a little... sensitive. Come on guys, let's go and grab some treats!"

"Have you forgotten what Akira said, Ann?!"

"... Oh, right. Damn it." Ann groaned in dismay before she flopped back into the egg chair in the resting lounge.

"... By the way," Makoto spoke up again. "How on Earth do you guys actually do so well in acting? It was so convincing, even I was nearly fooled if not for the fact that I knew who you all were!"

"Heh, that's got to do with the motto that our leader had ever since the beginning," Ryuji grinned and shrugged back.

"... And what's that?"

However, just as Ryuji was about to speak up, Akira suddenly entered.

"Ryuji, Ann, Makoto. We need you three on standby at the building in three hours time just in case anything happens, got it?"

"Gotcha, Boss," Ann nodded before she smiled in a slightly more laid back way and asked, "Hey, Akira, Makoto wants to know how we are so good at acting. Can you tell her?"

"Can't you tell her yourself?"

"But it's your motto, so why not you do it?"

"Huh. Well, if you say so," Akira shrugged before he stepped closer to Makoto and looked dead in her eyes. "Now, listen up, Makoto. If you really want to fool the people around you..."

Makoto could feel her breath hitch as he leaned closer and told her in a soft yet stern voice, "You'll need to learn how to fool yourself first."

* * *

 _EDIT: Hello guys! So I'm here for some updates: Unfortunately, I won't be uploading much from now on because I'm busy with concerts and other projects. I'll try to get back to writing as soon as possible, but I hope you guys can understand. Thanks!_


	4. Chapter 4

_Disclaimer: I do not own Persona 5!_

 _For those who are wondering why it's taking such a long time to update this fan fiction, I'm actually going through a Writer's Block right now. I know how the story's going to end up, but I just don't know how to fill in all of the details. So please do understand that I will be taking my time with this series. Thanks!_

 _This chapter is a little shorter than usual, but that's because... well, Writer's Block..._

 _With that, enjoy the story!_

* * *

"So, what do you say? Do you think I should go ahead and invest in Katsuo Nakamura's business?" Junya Kaneshiro asked as he downed a shot of alcohol.

The girl sitting beside Kaneshiro twirled her hair around her finger as she replied in a slightly cutesy voice, "Hm.. Mr Nakamura is a very rich tycoon whose net worth has been increasing at a very high rate. Striking a deal with him may end up causing your windfall."

Kaneshiro frowned. "What if that fat cat was just fooling with me? This seems like too great of a deal to snag up, you know."

"Oh, come on, Junya-chan, I think we should take the risk!" She giggled. "After all, if we don't take any risks, we may end up on the losing end~ Plus, Mr Nakamura may end up really disappointed if you decide not to take his deal."

The chubby man snorted. "Psh! Why do I need to care about his feelings? But you're right, babe. This may end up being a great opportunity for us…"

The auburn-haired girl cocked her head to the side. "So you really are going to strike the deal with him? Then what about your current… business?"

"Of course, that's going to continue," Kaneshiro chuckled. "But that's barely even part of my full plan. I'm going to bleed that man dry of his money, and then use that money to fly to another country with you, my babe. We'll be happy together with no one else to care about us."

"You mean… you want to elope? Ooh, that sounds exciting! But… will it really be okay?"

He chuckled darkly. "Just you wait, my sweetheart. Just you wait for our time to come. Oh, I'll be right back, darling. I need to head to the washroom."

The young girl giggled lightly. "That's fine, honey. I got to head outside for a breather too."

As the two of them stepped out, Kaneshiro headed to the washroom, while the girl started walking towards the exit of the bar to take a breath of night air. When she turned away, the brown-eyed girl sighed.

"What a disgusting creep… Thank goodness they are here."

* * *

"Hey, what was the point of raiding Kaneshiro's safe again?"

"It's because the company your role is in charge of is mainly a security company. Kaneshiro's going to think that his security system is faulty, and would be more willing to invest in Katsuo Nakamura's company. Didn't know that you were that dumb, Skull."

"Will you stop it with those insults, Futaba?! Still, I just hope this plan's gonna work. It's pretty damn risky."

"I still can't get Makoto's expression out of my mind when she saw us in these outfits, though," Ann chuckled as the group got out of the car and she readjusted her cat mask. Most of them were decked out in a latex suit, as if they were planning for some action to take place.

Akira, decked in a long black coat, suit and a mask, replied, "No more small talk, Panther. We need to deactivate the system right now."

Night had fallen, and the group were planning to take action to continue their plan. Makoto wasn't with them and stayed back in the house since she didn't want to be an obstacle in their way of their mission.

Ryuji, who was wearing a mask which looked like a human's skull, groaned. "Aw, come on, Akira-! Whoops, I mean, Joker!"

"This is why you're a big sucker for these missions, Skull," Futaba sniggered as she began to pull her laptop out of her bag as they approached a room in the building.

"HEY!"

"Alright, be serious. Oracle, have you checked into the security system of the safe?"

The orange-haired girl nodded back at Akira. "Yep. The safe is secured by an electronic system. I have placed a bug into it, so we pretty much know how to break in already. Are you guys ready? I'm going to begin to hack past the firewall and into the door system and surveillance cameras."

"We are always prepared, Oracle," Ann smiled back.

Futaba nodded. "Proceeding with the operation. Firewall: Successfully destroyed. System: Hacked."

Akira nodded in approval as he turned towards the opening door of the giant safe. "Good job. Now, let us commence with the raid."

* * *

 _The next day…_

"BOSS! BOSS! Someone raided the safe room and a whole lot of money is gone!"

"What?!" Kaneshiro stared at his panicky lackey in disbelief before he growled angrily, "You little shits. I thought I told you to guard the damn safe. How much did we lose?"

"About... about..."

"Speak up, you fucker! How much did we lose thanks to all of your incompetence?!"

"About... a hundred million yen..."

His eyes widened before he stepped over and elbowed the man in the gut. "A hundred million yen?! I didn't ask you guys to guard the god damn safe for no fucking reason!"

"B-But the safe was locked up with an electronic system! A biometric scanner! No one should be able to get in if your retina needs to be scanned to enter the room!"

Kaneshiro scoffed, "The fact that you still didn't protect my money means that you are useless. Get lost, you useless dog."

"Wh... I... I..."

The girl stood up. "Leave for now, Saito. Junya-chan's mad, and I don't think anyone wants to enrage him even more..."

"Ugh... Yes, Ma'am."

As Saito left, Kaneshiro groaned in dismay as he sat back down on the couch of his room. "God fucking damn it. I leave the security to those idiots and this happens."

She nodded. "A hacker must have rigged the system, but who could it be?"

"One of those people whom I had gone after must have hired some sort of hacker to steal all of that money," he growled in frustration. "Shit, I should have known to get a better electronic system!"

"... Hang on, isn't Katsuo Nakamura's company a security company? Maybe he can help out if you were to invest your money into his business!"

"Be business partners with Katsuo Nakamura?! This is a lone business, my dear!" Kaneshiro rolled his eyes. "But then again, if it means getting my money back..."

"See? You get to earn more money back, and you have a security company at your disposal too! Isn't this a wonderful solution, Junya-chan?"

Slowly, the chubby man nodded. "You're right. Maybe this time, we should just get back everything that I had lost thanks to those idiots who don't know what they're even doing."

"That's right! Ooh, that's a wonderful idea!"

* * *

"Yep. Hook, line and sinker. He never suspected that it was actually us," Futaba cackled as Akira put the phone down.

Ann sighed in relief as she downed a glass of water to cool herself down. "Oh, God. I thought that plan wasn't going to work, and we did some extra work for nothing!"

Akira pushed his glasses up as he turned to the group. "Kaneshiro just called. He has decided that he wants to invest in Katsuo Nakamura's business. Looks like we've a fish to catch."

Ryuji grinned as he tilted his fedora towards Makoto, who was staring at them in awe. "Heh, proud of us yet, Makoto? We're gonna exact revenge for you, and that bastard's gonna get what he deserves!"

"You guys... are amazing. How did you all manage to plan out all of these plans?"

"Well, you were the one who-!"

However, Ann smacked his shoulder and hissed, "RYUJI!"

Makoto raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Huh? I was the one who...?"

"You were the one who gave us the target, so we just planned it on the way!" he continued sheepishly. "God damn it, Ann..."

"You... you guys just planned it on the way?! Doesn't that mean you guys never had a real plan this entire time?!"

Akira shook his head. "We have a general plan, but you do know that sometimes, we need to throw in extra plans just so that we can tie up some loose ends."

"B-But that's so risky! Shouldn't you guys follow the plan as it should be?"

"When you're in a group that's at the verge of getting arrested all the time, you need to be flexible," the black-haired boy said as he lounged beside her. "Are you always this inflexible and stubborn, Makoto Niijima?"

Her red eyes flashed anger. "No, I'm not!"

However, Futaba suddenly spoke up as she continued typing at her computer, "There you go. Stubbornness at its finest."

Makoto sighed, which caused Akira to chuckle and pat her shoulder in a slightly affectionate manner.

"Heh. Chin up, darlin'. We still got some work to do. Your part is generally done, but for us, we're just getting started. Anyways," Akira spoke to the entire group as he stood up, "We are assembling at the business tower in half an hour. Get ready. I have already made plans with Kaneshiro to meet Katsuo and his investment manager in an hour."

"Roger, Boss!"

* * *

"I see... so your safe room got broken into and you've lost quite a sum of money..." Ryuji muttered and nodded, as if he was absorbing the information that Kaneshiro was providing him.

Kaneshiro nodded as his hand gripped on a black suitcase. "I heard that you owned a security company. Hence, I'd like to ask for a favour if I were to invest in your business..."

A small, polite smile grew on Ryuji's face. "I see. So, you want to invest in Nakamura's Security, is that it? That's fantastic news, Mr Kaneshiro. I knew I could count on you as a business partner. Now then, Jun-seo, will you lead Mr Kaneshiro into the office?"

Akira nodded as he reached a hand out towards the elevator. "Of course. Come this way, Mr Kaneshiro."

The plan was swiftly executed from there. Makoto silently watched behind the surveillance cameras with Ann as Akira led Kaneshiro into a posh office room and took a seat behind the computer. She could barely hear a single word in the conversation but knew that the bag was supposed to be full of money.

"So... what is Akira doing now...?"

"Getting Kaneshiro to sign the contracts," Ann replied in a normal tone before she added with a sultry whisper, "It's a fake contract, of course..."

Makoto looked at Ann with worried red eyes. "Won't he figure it out?"

"You know, we did do our research..."

Maybe it would be better for Makoto to not know about the conversation. All those technical terms would probably fly past her head. It's all greek to her.

Suddenly, the door in the room swished open, and Futaba stepped into the room with a trolley of snacks. Serving both Kaneshiro and Akira some tea and cookies, she quickly bid them farewell before she took her leave. However, Makoto could have sworn she saw something suspicious.

"Wait a second... Did Futaba just...?!"

Ann quickly brought a finger to her lips. "Shh. Let them finish their business first."

Confused, the brown-haired girl continued to watch as Akira continued to gesture some graphs and numbers on the computer to Kaneshiro with the target nodding his head. Picking up a pen, he signed the contracts, stood up, shook hands with Akira and left.

"... That's it?"

Ann grinned back at Makoto, who looked utterly confused. "Target successful! Let's go home!"

* * *

"I see... So you were trying to get some dirt on Kaneshiro too. No wonder Futaba placed that bug on Kaneshiro's phone."

"It's just like Futaba to be so sneaky," Ryuji chuckled as he gulped down a bottle of carbonated water back at their base.

"I just need to bug into Kaneshiro's phone and delete whatever dirt he has on his 'clients'. Our next plan is to just play with Kaneshiro and tell him that the stock markets crashed in a couple of days. He'll most likely check out the website that Akira had given him, only to realise in a couple of days that it was a fake all along," Futaba added before she giggled darkly, sending a strange shiver down Makoto's spine.

"Basically, your work here's actually already done, Makoto," Akira informed her. "You'll just be on standby just in case anything crops up. Everyone, great job."

Makoto nodded. "Got it." She didn't want to be a burden to them, anyways.

There was a moment of silence before Ryuji suddenly stood up and said, "Alright, I'm cooking dinner tonight to celebrate! What does everyone want?"

Ann grimaced exaggeratedly. "Uh... I'll just order my own food, thanks."

"HEY!"

"Come on, Ann. Don't challenge the creator of your dinner or you may regret it," Futaba sniggered before she continued typing on her computer.

As the two argued while the rest of them bursted out laughing, Makoto could feel joy bubbling up inside her. What was this happiness? It felt so familiar, yet she can't remember when she felt that way.

It felt like some sort of Déjà Vu…

* * *

"So I heard that the con artist whom you caught was just released a couple of days ago?"

Lavenza nodded as she sipped at her cup of tea. "Mm hm. Akira Kurusu was just released about three days ago."

Morgana pondered thoughtfully as he picked the glass of hot milk from the hot drink dispenser. "I see… I heard that he actually turned himself in when you caught him. Was that true, Senior Lavenza?"

She sighed as she placed her cup back down on the glass table in the police department's little café, then redid her long silver hair. "Yeah. He told me that he wanted to atone for his sins, but I was more concerned about capturing him since he was on the Wanted list for a long time. Even Deputy Chief Igor was at his wit's end."

Morgana frowned a little as he sat down on the chair in front of her. "Huh… That's interesting. What kind of sin would he want to atone for…?"

"That's the part I'm confused at," she replied. "Kurusu had a record of scamming big targets like Suguru Kamoshida who apparently sexually and physically abused the students in his school, and Ichiryusai Madarame who was apparently involved with another con artist group and scammed his art students into providing their artworks for his fame. He has also conned many other victims on a small scale, but it seems that he does that for some sort of justice. After all, he does force these people to turn themselves in to the police for their crimes."

"Justice? You mean, he acts like a vigilante?"

She chuckled lightly as she went for another sip of tea. "I…. Guess you can say that?"

Morgana took a gulp of milk before he placed it on the table. "But if he really believed in that sort of justice, what would cause him to have a sudden change of heart…? I just don't get it. Akira Kurusu seems like the kind of guy who would stand his ground and not let others change the morals that he believes in."

"He is indeed the strong, silent type who doesn't really communicate and interact with others much unless it's on a professional scale," Lavenza agreed. "It's possible that something happened to him which traumatised him… but I can't imagine what had happened to Kurusu for him to change his mind about his sense of justice. After all, it's this sense of justice that saved quite a number of people around Tokyo."

The blue-eyed boy could feel his facial expressions fall. "It must have been something serious…"

Lavenza looked at him for a while before she giggled once more and patted his back. "… Don't worry about that for now, Morgana. Just focus on the task you have at hand. What was it about again?"

"Oh, um, it's about the crime syndicate. We're still trying to figure out the identity of the kingpin, but apparently, none of the victims whom we have identified would confess. I guess the main guy somehow managed to threaten them…? I thought Caroline and Justine would have told you about our case by now…"

"Nah, my two pesky and bratty sisters just want to keep everything to themselves," she laughed before she stood up and dusted her blue dress. "Alright, I have to head off first. I'm pretty sure that Igor would yell at me if he sees that I'm not at my desk, hehe. See you, Morgana!"

"Okay, see you, Superintendent Lavenza!"

As Lavenza picked up her cup and headed towards the tray return counter, Morgana picked up his own case file which was sitting in his bag. "Let's see… Akira Kurusu, aged 25… Turned himself in to the police and confessed to scamming twenty-two people when he was acting as a con artist for the past eight years. Refused to reveal the names of his teammates, hence he received a sentence of three years in jail. Golly."

"BZZT! BZZT! BZZT!"

Morgana's phone vibrated, causing him to he jolted out of his wits. Quickly snatching up the phone, he answered it. "Hello, this is Inspector Morgana. May I know who is this? … Huh?! Deputy Chief Igor?! Y-Yes, I'm free to talk to right now! Did something happen? … What?"

He could feel his mind swirling as if it were on a carousel going at the speed of a roller coaster. Did Igor just tell him to…?!

"Y-You want me to investigate the case of Akira Kurusu…?"


	5. Chapter 5

_Disclaimer: I do not own Persona 5!_

 _Hey guys, I'm really sorry that I have to take such a long time just to upload one chapter every time. It's just that like I said in the previous chapter, Writer's Block is really taking a toll on me. Plus, I have other commitments such as holiday homework and other activities to complete, so I hope you can understand._

 _With that, enjoy the story!_

* * *

"Makoto! Are you alright?" Sae asked worriedly as she stepped forward to check on her little sister when she stepped through the door. She was already dressed in a casual T-shirt and pants, most likely so that she could just head straight to bed after doing her work.

Makoto nodded back with a smile. "Don't worry, Sis. My friends had made sure that I was okay before they allowed me to come back home… of course with a little help from them."

Deciding that she didn't want to worry her sister any longer, Makoto had decided to come back home after having her dinner back at Akira's base. The boss of the con artist group had very kindly sent her back to her doorstep, but of course left immediately afterwards since he couldn't be seen by the Prosecutor who had convicted him. It would bring up many weird and awkward conversations.

Sae sighed as she watched Makoto place her shoes on the shoe rack. "Thank goodness. I was wondering what had happened to you. Are you sure you're okay now, or do you need to take a break?"

Makoto giggled lightly, feeling happy that her sister really cared for her. "Geez, Sis. I'm fine now. I just need to head for a shower, okay?"

"Alright. Go ahead, but there are a couple of things I want to talk to you about later, okay?"

The red-eyed girl gulped. Sae probably wanted to question her about the friends who had taken care of her for the past few days…

"Y-Yes, Sis."

Stepping into her own bedroom and turning on the lights, Makoto let out a small sigh as she placed her bag onto the chair and headed for a shower. As she removed her clothing as hopped under the shower head, Makoto could feel the millions of thoughts she had back then running through her head once again.

Was this really the right choice? Akira may seem like a really smart man, but what if something were to go wrong? She was literally taking a gamble right here, and if something were to happen…

No, she shook her head. It was too late to turn back. The only thing she could do now was to keep her hopes on the team, and assist them in any way possible.

Yet another thought lingered in her head as she pumped the soap into her hands and lathered it all over her body.

Will things finally return back to normal again? She sighed once more as she rinsed off the bubbles and foam, and turned off the tap. Drying herself, Makoto quickly grabbed a fresh set of clean clothes to wear before she stepped out of the bathroom and out of her room.

"Ah, you're done with showering? That's fast."

She nodded back. "It's just a quick shower. I don't want to catch a cold again, after all."

Sae nodded in agreement as she gestured to the glass of warm milk on the table. "Here, relax yourself. Recovering from a cold must have been tough on you."

Makoto laughed lightly as she sat beside the grey-haired lady and took a sip of milk. "Come on, Sis. It's not that bad…"

"But anyways, continuing on," Sae quickly changed the subject as she turned back to her laptop and continued to type. "Who was the friend who took care of you that day?"

Makoto shifted slightly in her seat. "W-Well, to be honest, based on the pictures in my phone, he kind of looks like someone whom I knew from high school…"

The tapping of keys on the laptop briefly paused for a moment as Sae glanced at the brown-haired girl beside her. "Huh… I see. Well, it's best for me not to dig too much into your relationships with other people anyways. You're old enough to know what you want, despite your amnesia. The way your friend written the message, though…"

Red eyes stared directly at Sae. "What about it?"

"Hm, how do I say this…" Sae muttered as she placed a hand under her chin. "I guess you can say the writing style is very… familiar. It's as if I have seen it somewhere before, or perhaps someone whom I know speaks in a very similar way."

Makoto could feel her heart race. Did Sae… know something? Was she already suspecting something about her? Then again, Sae's pretty smart. Somehow, she had probably detected something already.

"Really?"

"Of course you wouldn't know about it, since… well…" Sae's sentence faltered when she realised she was beginning to hit a sensitive subject.

Makoto sighed internally as she finished the glass of warm milk in her hands. At least Sae wasn't to ask anymore questions… but before she did accidentally spill something, she knew she had to get out of there.

"I-It's fine, Sis! Well, I'm going to wash my glass now, and wash up before I head to bed. Good night!"

Sae nodded as she removed the clips in her own hair and saved her documents. "I should be getting to bed soon too. Good night, Makoto."

Makoto quickly ducked into the kitchen and washed her glass before setting it in the rack and heading straight to her bedroom. Shutting the wooden door behind her once more, she went to wash up before diving for the soft covers of her bed.

The recent days have been pretty crazy when she hung out with the Phantoms, yet she still had fun despite the dangers and troubles that they had to go through just to ensure that Kaneshiro was going to get what he deserved for messing with the innocent citizens of Shibuya… But how long will this last? Will it end up turning into a mad, wild ride that she had never wanted to sign herself up for?

Makoto had never felt so excited and frightened in her life. But she knew there was no point in thinking about her future now as she let her eyelids droop. She was so, so tired…

Meanwhile, Sae sat in the living room, staring at the message in her phone. She had received it a couple of days ago from Makoto's so-called 'friend', who named himself 'Alibaba', who had told her that she was ill and they will take care of her first before sending her back home.

She sighed. She was really afraid that it was a scam, and something had happened to her. But… for some reason, Sae felt as if she could trust this person. The writing style was too familiar to someone whom she knew, and while she could trust this person to take care of Makoto back then, if her suspicions were true, then that means…

The grey-haired lawyer brought a hand to her forehead. It couldn't be him… right?

"BZZT! BZZT!"

Startled, she looked back at her phone once more, but her surprised expression soon turned into that of a frown. "No caller ID…?"

Slowly, Sae apprehensively picked the call up. "Hello?"

"… It's been a long time, Sae-san."

Sae's eyes widened as she stood up in shock, immediately recognising the voice talking to her. "You are…!"

* * *

"Makoto, please head back to our base as soon as possible. We are about to start discussing our other plans about Junya Kaneshiro's case. You have an hour. I'm sure that you know where our base is by now."

That was the message that Makoto had received from Akira when she woke up first thing in the morning, and she couldn't help but give a loud shriek as she flipped herself out of the sheets and tumbled into the bathroom. What the heck did that con artist just say?! She only had an hour to get there?!

"M-Makoto, are you alright…?" Sae had asked her screaming sister in worry and curiosity as she watched the girl run up and down the apartment.

"NO! I'm going to be late for an interview! I'll see you soon, Sis!" Makoto yelled down the hallway as she snatched up a piece of toast and dashed out of the door. Thank goodness she only needed ten minutes to wash up and get dressed!

As her flats smacked the concrete ground when she fled down the corridor, Makoto paused to catch her breath once she reached the nearest bus stop which had bus services that could easily take her to the base. Only…

Groaning in dismay as she stared down at her broken shoe, Makoto could only shake her head at her misfortune. "…! Ugh, why does the sole have to come off at this time…? My luck is really right out of the window this morning!"

Suddenly, she felt her phone vibrate. Makoto fished it out of her pocket and took a peek at the message which was sent to her. "45 minutes left."

"Oh my god, I know that! Stop it!"

"We can't be dilly-dallying at a time like this, can we, Lady Makoto?"

"I'm not that slow, Akira!"

For some reason, Makoto could feel her frustration increasing like never before. She sighed as she watched the bus pull over, and quickly hopped onto it.

"Well, you are if I have to wait on you, Lady Makoto."

"Akira, please stop it…"

* * *

"So right now, we have much of Kaneshiro's assets at our disposal," Akira explained. "We are now in charge of the security of his safe in which he stores most of his cash since he doesn't trust the banks, and Futaba has also gotten a hold of all of the information which we need."

Makoto was wheezing as she listened to them talk. Running from the bus stop all the way to the base just to ensure she would reach within the time limit had really taken the breath out of her! She was always fit and all since she loved to exercise, but never did she realise that sprinting was going to take up so much of her energy!

"Yep~ I managed to track down his IP address and go through his browser history, so I found all of the contracts and other shady businesses that he's dealing with on the Deep Web," Futaba replied casually as she gently swept her short face-framing strands of hair to the back, not looking up from her computer.

Ryuji visibly shivered. "Deep Web… Geez, didn't the things he was browsing through scare you, Futaba?!"

She shook her head. "I've seen even worse things in my life. Why do I need to freak out at the sight of the Black Market online?"

Ann sighed. "Well, considering how the Black Market was one way we had to use to get our firearms and other weapons if Iwai-san isn't available…"

Makoto could feel sweat drops running down her forehead. What business had she gotten herself into?! Then again, it is a con artist group… she should have expected it.

"We have also managed to convince Kaneshiro into investing most of his money into the shell company, and then Futaba will tap and mess with the fake stock market website a little bit such that he is fooled into thinking that he's in debt and has to fork out the rest of his cash to settle the debt. While this makes him fall into a bad mood, we'll then send all of the evidence and data of what he had done to the police."

"W-Wow, that sounds…" Makoto was impressed, but she couldn't help but feel a little skeptical. "Are you sure that's going to work…?"

"We will only know whether it works if we try," Ryuji shrugged back as he tipped his fedora to the front. "After all, Kaneshiro is indeed involved with drug trafficking as well as blackmailing, and we can't just ignore that. I know that as con artists, we seem like we don't give two shits about the people's well-being, but actually, I can't stand seeing more people getting their lives destroyed by that fat ass."

Ann nodded in agreement, a look of determination growing on her face. "It's just like the case with Suguru Kamoshida and Ichiryusai Madarame… I'm not going to let any meaningless suicides happen again! Seeing Shiho jump down from the school rooftop was already too much for me… that's why I don't want that to happen again!"

The sound of keys typing on the computer stopped for a moment, and everyone turned towards the orange-haired bespectacled girl who looked as if she had something to say. However, after a brief pause, Futaba continued to type at her computer, as if she didn't really listen much to the conversation and was just focusing on her work.

"Is something the matter, Futaba?" Makoto decided to ask her new friend.

Futaba shook her head quickly as she replied, "It's nothing."

Ryuji nudged Makoto a little before muttering, "It's got to do with the reason she joined the Phantoms in the first place. Don't ask her about it - she's really touchy about it unless you're really close to her."

"I... I see..."

"Well, that's generally about it. That's the end of our meeting," Akira suddenly announced as he stood up and began to walk out of the lounge.

The brown-haired girl stared at Akira with widened red eyes as the feeling of indignation began to swell inside of her. Did she come over early in the morning just to listen to all of that?! Makoto herself was kind of a morning person, but to think that she would take the effort to run all the way there, only to sit and listen to ten minutes of explanation! What kind of...!

Seeing Makoto's face, Ann chuckled. "You have to get used to it. Our leader's used to pulling off crazy stunts like these..."

Makoto sighed as she clutched her head. Of all the rotten... To think that she would skip most of her breakfast for this too...

"... Yo, are you okay?"

Shocked to hear Futaba speak out of the blue, she looked up at the bespectacled girl. "I-I guess. Why do you ask?"

"You look lethargic," Futaba replied bluntly as she continued to work on her computer, "Just like me whenever I don't eat anything in the morning."

Ryuji turned to look at her in horror. "You didn't eat anything this morning?! That's freaking unhealthy!"

"Uh... I did eat a slice of bread... but that was all I could take since my hands were rather full."

The blond-haired boy sighed as he scratched the back of his head and stood up. "Stay here."

As he shut the door behind them, Ann started giggling. "That Ryuji... he's always looking out for his teammates despite acting like such a jerk at times."

Makoto was surprised. "Huh? But he seems like a really nice person who's just rather laidback and sometimes rash..."

The girl in twintails shook her head. "Nah. You just don't know him that well yet. Trust me when I say that he's a huge pervert and really reckless... though of course, that's balanced out by his empathy and compassion towards us... I guess actually, your explanation's not that far away from the truth either."

She pondered. "Hm, you seem to really know a lot about him, huh..."

Ann nodded with a smile. "I mean, we've known each other since Middle School. It's not a huge surprise that since we ended up in the same High School that we would work together as a team. But I gotta say: despite what people keep saying, he's a good guy."

"As good as a bumbling idiot would be, I guess," Futaba suddenly quipped from behind her computer.

"The hell did I just hear, Futaba Isshiki?!" A shriek from the hot-headed boy suddenly echoed from outside before the door was busted down by a kick. Ryuji stepped into the room and handed a tray of food over to Makoto, all while glaring at the petite hacker who was chuckling at him.

"Well, here he is~" Futaba giggled.

Ann sighed. "Calm down, Ryuji. You know she's just messing with you..."

As Ryuji and Futaba continued to bicker with Ann trying to ease the tension, Makoto stared down at the breakfast that was cooked for her. The eggs on a buttered toast garnished with some garden salad looked really good, and she couldn't wait to dig in. As she closed her mouth over a forkful of eggs, her eyes lit up in surprise.

It was really fluffy and cheesy!

"Like it?" Ryuji asked her with a proud grin, totally forgetting about the petty argument he was having with Futaba earlier on. "I separated the egg whites from the yolk, then beat them and added cheese to it before inserting the yolk back! Look like sunny side ups, don't they?"

Makoto nodded back with a delighted smile as she picked up the cup of coffee that came with the food. "It is a really nice surprise. I honestly didn't expect that!"

Futaba pouted. "Gotta admit, Blondie here's a pretty good cook..."

"Hah! See?!"

"Doesn't mean you've won yet, Old Man..."

"H-Hold up! How the hell am I old?!"

"Alright, you guys. Calm down!"

As Makoto watched the lively scene in front of her, she couldn't help but start to giggle a little to herself. Maybe these friends of hers were going to make her life just a little more interesting than she thought it would be.

* * *

As he sat at his work desk, Akira sipped on his coffee - a blend that he could never forget the taste of; a blend that only the person whom he loved back then could perfect.

The noise outside had died down. Makoto Niijima must have headed back home already. That's alright - he didn't really have much things for her to do afterwards. All they needed was for Futaba to take charge of most of the operation, and they would most likely succeed already.

He glanced out of his window, looking out at the garage. It was where they had stored their van, and also... her most trusted vehicle. Reminiscing, Akira felt a smile began to form on his lips.

A jingle started to play in the room, and the raven-haired man frowned a little as he reached out to receive his cell phone. His eyebrows raised slightly as he read the caller ID of whoever wanted to talk to him.

"Kaneshiro, huh..." he muttered before he accepted the call. "Good morning, Mr Kaneshiro! How can I help you? ..."

As he listened to the call, Akira's face suddenly turned from bored to serious. "... Ah, I see."

As he continued to communicate with Kaneshiro, Ryuji suddenly opened the door.

"Hey, Leader, are we about to commence the operation—" However, he was interrupted when Akira brought a finger to his lips, signalling for him to keep quiet.

"I see, I see. Alright, I'll put the money back over at the building in an hour time."

Ryuji's eyes widened in shock. What did Akira just say...?!

As Akira snapped his phone shut, Ryuji strode forward in concern. "What just happened? Is everything alright?!"

The boss' face was dead serious as he turned and informed his best friend,

"Commence with Plan B. Kaneshiro's found us out because of a track we had probably accidentally laid, and has kidnapped Makoto to force us to abide to his words."

Ryuji could only stare back in horror before regaining composure and running back to tell everyone else.

* * *

Makoto couldn't believe her rotten luck. One moment, she was just walking down the street and the next, she was kidnapped by Junya Kaneshiro. How on earth did he know about their plans, anyways?

"Don't be so surprised; Our dear Junya-chan has eyes and ears everywhere in all of Shibuya," the girl with the curly auburn hair remarked when she entered the isolation room with a bottled water. Makoto recognised her as the girl who always sat beside Kaneshiro.

Seeing Makoto's death glare, she giggled, voice dripping with syrup. "Don't worry about it, Mako-chan~ Once Junya-chan gets his money back, he'll finally release you, alright?"

"... I don't think that's true," Makoto replied. She knew better than that.

The girl sighed as she handed the bottle over to the red-eyed lady. "Come on, trust my words a little, won't you? I'm sure those little friends of yours would come to rescue you sooner or later, anyways..."

"And how do I know that I can trust you?"

She simply stood up and walked towards the door, replying back with a mysterious smile, "You shall see when the time comes, Mako-chan..."

Makoto didn't know what to think as she growled and laid back on the cold, hard concrete floor.


	6. Chapter 6

_Disclaimer: I do not own Persona 5!_

 _Christmas is coming up, so I'm just here to wish you all Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Hope that everyone's going to have a great time!_

 _With that, enjoy the story!_

* * *

"I fuckin' knew it, it was those assholes who broke into the damn safe in order for me to fall into their trap..." Kaneshiro growled before he grinned, "It's a good thing that one of my other clients found out. Who knows what would have happened if I allowed those lowly worms get their hands on the entirety of my bank's money... Thank goodness for that."

One of his men grinned back at Kaneshiro. "That's 'cuz Boss deserves to thrash those disgusting con artists!"

"Now, now. We're just waiting for the main man to finally come over to return the money back to us."

"Hey, Boss! Is that him?"

Kaneshiro looked down from the rooftop of the shopping centre and grabbed a pair of binoculars, focusing on the man dressed in black. There was no doubt it was the four-eyed freak, with that curly black hair and all.

He quickly lifted his phone to his ear. "I see that you have arrived. Show the contents of the bag towards the shopping centre's top floor. Hurry up."

As if bored, the man simply lifted the black bag and opened it, showing the bagful of money inside. "All of your money is inside. I can vouch for that."

Kaneshiro nodded in approval, before gesturing towards Akira, ordering one of his men to fetch the bag. The burly man quickly went down and snatched the bag from Akira who simply put his hands up as if the surrender. As the man searched through the contents, he nodded and gave a thumbs up to Kaneshiro.

He smiled pridefully. "Good. Now turn back and pretend it never happened. Makoto Niijima will be returned to you all soon."

He watched the raven-haired boy look back with a blank look before turning around and walking back out. But it didn't matter. All he knew was that they were done here, and his money was safe.

It wasn't long before the man came up and handed the bag of money back to him. Kaneshiro checked the contents of his bag once more and grinned. There. All of his money was finally back.

However, his phone suddenly rang. Sighing in frustration, Kaneshiro received it and asked in irritation, "What is it now?"

"B-Boss! I know you may not believe it, but Makoto Niijima... she's escaped! Somehow, she's gone from her cell!"

Kaneshiro's joy soon turned into an expression of horror and sheer rage. "The hell?! You dickheads were supposed to be the ones in charge of the god damn room, weren't you?!"

"But it's really as if she's vanished without a trace, Boss! No one except for our people whom we trust the most entered the room, and no one brought Makoto Niijima out! I can vouch for that!"

"Screw all of that for now! Who the hell were the ones who entered the room?!"

"W-Well, there is—AHH!"

The call suddenly ended, causing Kaneshiro to realise that something had gone horribly wrong. Could it be that...?!

"B-Boss! There's a tag right here!"

"The hell is going on right now?!" he nearly shrieked as he snatched the bag from his henchman and lifted the black tag stuck to his bag's strap. "'Tricked'...?"

Suddenly, the door to the rooftop burst open and a group of policemen swarmed in, surrounding the entire group with no way to escape. From behind, a rather young man dressed in a black policeman uniform and a yellow bandana flashed his ID at Kaneshiro.

"Junya Kaneshiro, we have received evidence from an anonymous source about your illegal activities. You are hereby arrested and will be under charges of drug trafficking, financial exploitation, and blackmail. Anything you say will be held against you."

"Now get outta here!" The girl in the blue police uniform whose hair was tied into a bun handcuffed the boss of the crime syndicate and kicked him out of the door towards the staircase.

Kaneshiro, who was stunned by the entire development, was at a loss for words. How the hell did they know about it? Wasn't he extremely careful with his methods?! It was then when everything fell into place.

Gritting his teeth, Kaneshiro could only seethe to himself, "They were the ones who stole the information...!"

"What did you just say?" The girl with the braid asked. She looked like the twin of the girl who handcuffed him.

"Tch, it's nothing," he replied as they reached the front of the shopping mall, where people gazed over at the scene with horrified and curious looks.

"You'd better. Now get into the car!"

Morgana could feel a frown crease on his face. Though they had caught the culprit behind most of the suicide cases in Shibuya... he sighed as he looked back at his phone. It was a message from an unknown caller ID whom he couldn't even track down with the technology that they had. And every time the person behind this caller ID went offline, strangely, he couldn't send any more messages.

The person, who called themself Alibaba, had told him to check the documents inside the computer of the shared police files and, true to their words, there was indeed information and evidence of Junya Kaneshiro and his illegal deeds. Morgana couldn't understand how these files would appear in the shared folder unless somehow, someone hacked into their system...? But who could it be? Some sort of white-hat hacker? Or an organization?

... An organization? Suddenly, a name rang a bell in his head as his eyes widened.

"... Medjed?"

* * *

"Makoto! Are you alright?!"

Makoto nodded at Ann as she entered the base along with Ryuji and Akira. "I'm fine... though I can't believe they would just snatch me off the road like that..."

"These people would do anything just to get their way," Ryuji groaned as he shook his head. "It's disgusting."

"But at least Makoto's safe, and we have evaded the eyes of the police," Akira replied as he watched Makoto sit down on the couch to take a breather. "That's what I'm a little more worried about. Oh, and by the way..."

"Hm?" Makoto looked at the bespectacled man in confusion before she gasped when she saw what he was handing to her. "You are returning me my watch...?"

"You did tell me that it was from your sister," Akira explained as he opened her hand and slipped the watch back to her, "and our deal here is done as well. I helped you out in getting Junya Kaneshiro arrested, and you helped us to gain more income for us to live. That means that you don't have to work for us anymore if you don't wish to, Makoto."

"B-But..."

"Come on, Makoto," Ann smiled back. "You're a law-abiding citizen, unlike us con artists. Choose the best path that you think suits you."

Ryuji nodded. "I mean, having another comrade would be amazing and all, but it would suck for ya to have to shoulder even more responsibility. We'd honestly advise you to leave when you ain't too deep in our business yet."

Makoto bit her lip. They have helped her so much, and now have suddenly decided to let her go?

"What the...?"

A soft exclamation from Futaba caused them all to turn towards her. "Is something the matter, Futaba?" Ann asked in worry.

"I was just decoding all of my traces from the police department's computer system when I saw some really suspicious code. I decoded the suspicious files that I had extracted and... well, take a look at this."

All of them cautiously proceeded to step forward and took a look at Futaba's computer before they gasped in shock.

Ann was the first to speak. "But these...!"

Ryuji stepped back and gawked, "Aren't... Aren't those the same contracts that we had sent into the database of the police's main network as evidence of Kaneshiro's crimes so that they can be seen by all of the police members, especially the higher ups...?"

Makoto turned towards Ryuji in horror. "Are you telling us that they actually already know about this?!"

Futaba swallowed nervously before she nodded, confirming his inference. "It seems that the police... is actually a lot more corrupted on the inside than we think."

Akira shook his head. "No, it's probably not the entire department. Rather I think it's a few people who already know about this... But this is a huge problem..."

"... I'm not leaving."

All eyes fell on Makoto, whose face suddenly looked much more determined than ever before. She raised her head and looked straight at them.

"M-Makoto, are you sure?!"

She nodded. "I know you guys may think I'm mad, but I'm not changing my mind. I want to join the Phantoms in their missions whenever I can!"

Akira pressed his lips together. "... Are you sure? Once you officially join, there's no turning back. If we end up getting arrested in one way or another, you'll end up in deep trouble with the rest of us too."

"I am fully aware of the consequences and will take responsibility for my actions. I feel that I can be of use to the group. Please let me join the team!"

"Very well, but you know what this means, don't you?"

Makoto nodded once more. She had made up her mind.

Akira was silent for a moment before he stood up and walked towards the door. "Well then, follow me. We'll have to get some things in store for your missions before you begin."

* * *

It wasn't long before he was thrown into the prison cells, especially after he learned that the police had recovered most of the cash which he had blackmailed from his clients. With most of his money gone, he had gone absolutely bankrupt. There was no way anything could save him. Not even the banks would loan him anything at this rate.

Kaneshiro sighed. He worked his ass off just to stop people from taunting him like a piece of shit back when he was still an honest office worker, and now this had to happen. Just how unlucky could he get?

Then again, he was playing a card game with the law anyways. There was no doubt one side had to lost at some point.

"Junya-chan?"

His eyes lit up when he saw the familiar face finally enter the room. "Y-You're here!"

She smiled back the sweet smile which he could never forget, yet he saw a hint of worry behind it. "Of course I'm here... So they still managed to find the evidence of what you did, is that it?"

Kaneshiro looked through the glass walk which was blocking the two of them from physical contact. "I don't have time for that now. I'm sorry, babe, but is there still any cash left?"

She nodded. "Of course! I don't know what got over me, but I managed to retrieve quite a sum out before your arrest."

Kaneshiro breathed a huge sigh of relief. "Oh, thank goodness for you! I promise you, once I get out, we'll use that money to go overseas, and start anew! It'll be a tough life, but I'll assure you that we'll finally be happy again after this!"

She continued to smile as she ran her fingers through her hair. "Yeah, about that... I kinda gave it to my superior already."

His smile faltered. "Wh-what do you mean?"

She started to chuckle darkly, and Kaneshiro didn't like the way things were going. "Junya Kaneshiro, the fat, amateur scammer, and blackmailer who's into drug trafficking and destroying the lives of innocent citizens. Do you actually really think anyone is loyal to you, darling?"

"Wh-what?"

"You never even address anyone by their real name except for those people whom you've scammed. Are we really just lowly worms in your life to you, Junya-chan?"

Kaneshiro stood up in shock. "N-No! I—"

As she started to stand up, she continued in a dark tone, "Save your last breath for when you have to scream and cry in court under the prosecution of Sae Niijima, Junya Kaneshiro. I'm sure that lawyer won't hesitate to slay you down, after all..."

"No... it can't be... Even you...?"

As Kaneshiro's cries echoed behind her, the auburn-haired girl could only smirk as she sashayed out through the metal door.

"So, you've finally ditched that amateur and finished the mission, Haru Okumura?"

The girl, Haru Okumura, turned towards the speaker as she stepped out of the police station. She narrowed her eyes. "Don't speak about that when we're near danger, Yusuke Kitagawa... or should I call you Fox at this point in time?"

The man, who had piercing grey eyes and long blue hair tied into a low ponytail, chuckled deeply as he replied, "As if you're not doing that either, Noir."

Haru huffed as she continued to walk down the street with Yusuke striding along behind her. "To be honest, that man was a real pain to deal with..."

"Wow, if you're the one saying that, I'm pretty sure everyone else has even worse opinions about that guy. But, cheer up, Noir," Yusuke smiled back serenely as he brought an empty hand towards her only to snap his fingers and magically reveal a paper rose. "A dainty rose like you will, of course, be awed upon by many others."

Haru glanced at the rose before she giggled and accepted it. "I'm not as delicate as an origami rose, but thank you, Fox."

"It's my pleasure. Come on, let's go back and report to our Boss about the news."

* * *

"A-Are you sure about this, Akira?!" Makoto gawked at the outfit that the leader of the group had given to her.

"It's a spare that we had if anyone were to arrive, so we're lucky," Akira replied as he handed her the suit. "You should try it on and see if it fits you."

"Uh... okay...?" Makoto was hesitant as she stepped into the bathroom and shut the door behind her. Glancing at her costume which came with a metal mask, she sighed. It was dark-coloured and could easily help her camouflage in the dark, but was such a tight suit really necessary? Despite this, she knew she had to forsake certain things if she wanted to join.

She stepped out of the bathroom after changing into the navy blue suit that came with a black vest and spiked guards for her joints. As she adjusted the scarf that came with the outfit, she asked, "Is this okay...?"

"Whoa, you look amazing, Makoto!" Ann grinned back upon seeing her outfit.

Akira quickly grabbed hold of her shoulders and spun her around, checking for any tears or seams coming off. He then nodded. "It looks fine. Alright, you can change back if you like to. By the way, do you have any experience with a motorbike?"

"A-A motorbike...?" Makoto paused for a moment, recollecting her thoughts. "W-Well... I remember my sister telling me that I have a driver's license for riding a motorbike, so I guess I used to have some sort of experience... Huh?!"

With a jingle, a ring of keys was tossed to her as Akira stepped out of the room, "Then meet me at the garage after this. We need to ensure that you can be of as much use as you can to the team."

Makoto could only stare at the keys before she sighed and headed back to the washroom to change out of that tight-fitting suit of hers. Will she really be able to ride a motorbike safely afterwards?

This day was getting even crazier than before...

* * *

"Ho, yes! Now that's what I call skill!" Ryuji grinned as he watched Makoto park her motorcycle back into the garage like a professional. Akira had told her to take it onto the road for a ride just to see if she could still ride a motorbike decently.

"I don't get it either, though," Makoto replied as she got off the snazzy, expensive-looking motorcycle that Akira had allowed her to use for their missions if it was necessary. "For some reason, I knew exactly what to do even though I can't describe what to really do in words. Maybe I have really strong muscle memory when it comes to riding a motorcycle..."

The fedora-wearing man nodded in agreement as he watched her lock Johanna, the name that Akira had given to this beauty, up beside the van. "Maybe! Come on, we gotta go. The Boss' probably waiting for you back at the base. Let's see what the rest are currently up to."

Checking to ensure it was in place, Makoto slipped the keys into her pocket before she nodded at her friend. Ryuji quickly locked the garage door after she had stepped out, and they walked towards the front door of the modern bungalow. Makoto always wondered how much was invested in this property.

Flinging open the door, Ryuji yelled into the house, "Yo, we're back! Makoto took the beauty for a spin, and she's really got the hang of it! We should celebrate — huh?"

Curiously, Makoto looked at what had caused Ryuji to suddenly stop mid-sentence. Akira and Ann were watching the news on the television, while Futaba was furiously typing away at her computer with a frustrated look on her face. Gulping in concern, the pair silently walked towards the couches and sat down, paying attention to the news.

"Just a few hours ago, the anonymous and high-profile group of hackers, Medjed, has hacked into the website of the Police in Japan and replaced the main page with a message which reads, 'To the police of Japan: Do not speak of your false justice. We do not need the spread of such falsehood. We are the true executors of justice. We know of the dark, dirty deeds and secrets that you have been keeping from the public eye. However, we are magnanimous. We will give you an opportunity to repent your ways. If you agree to a change of heart, we will accept you as justice seekers. If you reject our offer, the hammer of justice will find you. We are Medjed. We are unseen. We will eliminate evil.' That is the end of the message. Police are now investigating the matter, but no other information has been provided."

Ann quickly whirled towards Futaba and asked in a panicky voice, "Futaba, aren't you a part of Medjed? What on Earth's going on?!"

Futaba groaned and shook her head. "I don't get it either. I just checked the writing of the code that these people imposing as Medjed had used, and it doesn't add up at all. The style of writing is all over the place. At this rate, it was probably done through simply copying and pasting all over... which means it was done by an amateur."

"But why would the hell would they impose as Medjed, then?" Ryuji queried with a confused expression, "They could just use any damn name if they wanted to really 'seek justice' like they said!"

"Unless..." Makoto quickly turned to Futaba, her mind beginning to work on the case. "Could this be a personal attack on the real Medjed...? Based on the files, maybe they found out about Kaneshiro's deeds, and we are the ones who managed to get him arrested. Does anyone know that you are a part of Medjed and the Phantoms as well, Futaba?"

"No one is supposed to know, unless..." Futaba's eyes widened in horror as she turned to look at Akira. "Could it be that... they're back?"

Akira pursed his lips for a moment before he spoke in a quiet voice.

"I'm afraid that the Conspiracy may be back."

* * *

Morgana frowned deeply as he continued to stare at his computer in his office, nearly pulling his hair out of frustration. Everything was starting to fall apart, from the case with Medjed to whoever the heck placed the incriminating evidence of Junya Kaneshiro into their database.

Scrolling down the files, he was at a complete loss. Just what the hell is going on?

Despite all of this, he still had to investigate Akira Kurusu the con artist that they had arrested a couple of years ago, and he still had no idea where to start. All he knew was that the raven-haired man was twenty-five this year; about two years older than him and that Prosecutor Sae Niijima was the one who convicted him.

"You look really stressed out, Morgana. Are you sure you're alright?" Lavenza asked the young male worriedly when she came to check on him and get any updates on the cases that they were working on together.

"Deputy Chief Igor asked me to track down Akira Kurusu because the Chief of the department still feels that there's more to the con artist than just the deeds that he had confessed to," Morgana replied with a sigh. "I just don't get what the Chief's thinking sometimes..."

Lavenza nodded thoughtfully as she muttered, "Chief, huh... We never seem to know just what he's thinking. No one's even really seen him before or know much about him, now that I think about it. Deputy Chief Igor's usually the one to relay messages from the Chief to the company."

Morgana asked quizzically, "What? But if no one really knows him, then how is he the Chief of the Police Department, Senior Lavenza?"

"Well, the only thing we all know is that his name's Yaldabaoth, but to be honest, that's probably all that I know about him," she replied as she swept her long silver hair towards the back. "Anyways, he wanted you to learn more about Akira Kurusu, is that it?"

"Yeah. Do you have any ideas on what I should do about it? I have no idea where to start..."

"Well, if you'd like, you can start by asking Prosecutor Niijima about what she's learned about him," Lavenza replied. "I mean, I may be the one who captured him, but I know only as much as the police department knows. Basically, I know as much as you know."

The guy in the yellow bandanna groaned. Looks like he would have to source out secondary information before he could get anywhere.


End file.
